"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Frankly except for Kerry's Dovishness, nothing -- not judges, not tax hikes, not whatever else Kerry is for -- scares me more than a Department of Wellness. The Orwellian sound of the name alone should cause conservative and libertarian hackles to ride high. The moment such a department is created, the rent-seekers, homeopaths, psychics, fruitarians, communitarians, magneto-therapists, anger-management gurus and the entire Star Wars cantina of 12-Step New Age Handholders would march to Washington to set up shop and try to define "Wellness" in ways favorable to them and annoying to you (or at least me). You want preventative medicine? Fine. Let's innoculate more kids and have more exercise in gym class. But give Theresa Heinz (the source of this idea) the opportunity to oversee American "Wellness" and don't be surprised if the State Trooper asks you to turn your head and cough before he gives you a parking ticket. There's nothing more intrusive than a government given a mandate to do what it deems necessary "for your own good."
One wonders: Would President John "Personally Opposed but That Doesn't Stop Me from Keynoting NARAL Rallies" Kerry use the bully pulpit of a Wellness Department to rouse as much public concern over the health risks posed by abortion as those by second-hand smoke?
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